


Home Is Where Your Family Is

by PinkPandorafrog



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M, Kidfic, Little bit of angst, mention of abortion, smut tho
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-23
Updated: 2015-02-23
Packaged: 2018-03-14 16:52:45
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3418301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PinkPandorafrog/pseuds/PinkPandorafrog
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>End-of-the-world sex left Darcy with something she hadn't really counted on. Now, two years later, everyone starts finding out.<br/>Set immediately after Thor: The Dark World</p>
            </blockquote>





	Home Is Where Your Family Is

Darcy looked through the window and smiled at the blond man who was currently kissing the stuffing out of her best friend. “And that's your Uncle Thor,” she told the dark-haired baby on her lap, pressing a kiss to the top of his head.

He seemed singularly unimpressed, instead chewing on Darcy's spoon while simultaneously dropping his fistful of cold cereal all over her lap. She looked down at the cereal and shrugged. There was no point in cleaning it up until he was done. She took a sip of her coffee and set the mug down in the middle of the table, away from his tiny, reaching hands.

“There's a fine line between, 'OMG that's the sweetest thing ever,' and 'seriously, guys, get a room,'” she told Erik, who gave her a knowing look. She avoided looking at Ian. They'd almost had a moment, and things were... awkward.

Eventually, though, the two came inside, all smiling and holding hands and just too adorable for words. “Darcy!” Thor greeted, and slipped away from Jane to move over to her.

“Careful!” She admonished as he leaned over to hug her, pointing to her son.

“A baby! Most hearty congratulations to you!” He put his arm around her shoulders instead and squeezed her against his side.

“Thank you. His name is Jarl.” She gave her little boy a smile.

Jarl turned to look at the newcomer, his dark eyes locking onto the blond giant, cereal and spoon completely forgotten.

“A good, strong name. May I?” Thor asked, already reaching for the baby.

“Yeah. Careful, he's a bit... strong.”

Thor took the baby from her lap and lifted him high in the air, drawing a squealing laugh. Darcy grinned, turning her attention back to her own breakfast. Porridge, long gone cold- someone else holding the baby was a good chance for her to get a few bites to eat.

“Your little warrior has a firm grip,” Thor said, relinquishing the little boy back to his mother.

She raised her eyebrows and shook her head. “Yeah. Gets that from his father.”

“Who is the-”

“So!” Darcy cut him off, a little forced cheerfulness. “Are you staying this time?” She looked up at him, eyes wide and guileless. Because she loved Thor, she _did_ , and she was nothing but super happy for Jane, who looked like she'd just discovered the secret to happiness and world peace and everything else she wanted, _but_. Those two years had been really, _really_ long.

“I am,” he answered easily, his happy smile never fading. “I may be called away from time to time, but this... Jane...” He looked over at her and the smile turned into some kind of heat lamp that radiated joy. “Is my home.”

Well, that was just about the sweetest thing ever. Jane, however, was giving Darcy _that_ look. The look that meant, I'm-a-horrible-liar-and-if-you-don't-tell-him-I-will. Darcy let out a long sigh. “Hey, can I borrow you from your home for a minute?”

He picked up the seriousness in her tone, and his smile ebbed a little. “Of course.”

Darcy looked down at Jarl. “Are you done?” He nodded, and so she stood with him, settling him on her hip. She led the way from the kitchen into her room, the larger of the flat's two bedrooms, and set her son down on the floor. He immediately went to find the plush version of Mjolnir Jane had bought for him.

“So...” She sat down in the padded wooden rocking chair and after a second, Thor settled himself gingerly on the end of her bed. “You remember that time you came to New Mexico, and Loki killed you, and your, um... Friends showed up?” She was watching Jarl, not wanting to meet Thor's eye, her feet automatically pushing her into a gentle rocking motion.

“Of course. I seem to remember Fandral was quite taken with you.” He gave her a big grin.

Darcy rolled her eyes. “Right. So... So Jarl's about fourteen months old.” Thor wasn't getting it. “And, uh... He's... half-Asgardian?” That came out more question than she'd strictly intended.

The smile fell off completely at that. “Fandral has fathered a child?” The blue eyes flicked over to the child in question, a blank expression on his face.

She winced. “No. Um, Hogun?”

“Hogun is Vanir.” It was Thor's turn to receive a blank look. “From Vanaheim.”

“Oh, okay. Well, then he's half-Vanir. Half, uh... Not human.” She paused for a second. “So that's a thing.”

Thor's eyes were so serious, the look on his face grave. “He doesn't know.” That was _not_ a question.

She shook her head, shrugging. “Well, of course not. It's not, you know... We had a little end-of-the-world sex, I'm not going to stick him with a kid he never asked for. I have a birth certificate with a human father on it. Dead so there's no messy...” She waved her hand. “Anyway, so... Yeah.”

“Heimdall must know.”

“Sure, yeah. Heimdall and I are bros. Well, I assume we're bros. I talk to him sometimes and Hogun hasn't shown up at any point to tell me he feels obligated or whatever, so...”

“Hogun must hear.” Thor was already standing up.

“Uh, he must _not_.” Darcy stood up too. “I would bet some serious cash- if I had any- that he has a life and things, and would feel some sort of weird obligation to turn up and... I don't know. Be honorable or some shit? I have a life, such as it is. He probably does, too.”

He stared at her for a moment or two, completely serious, before settling back down on her bed. Darcy sat down again, too. “Who is attributed with his parentage?”

“Nick Fury. He killed a cover for it, too, which he didn't have to do.” Darcy grinned. “Fury loves kids. Like, absolutely loves kids. Which... I guess it makes sense why he wanted to start the Avengers, from what I hear.” She gave Thor a pointed look, and he just shrugged.

Jarl pulled his hammer and a colorful book of Norse mythology over to Darcy and stood there with his 'pick me up' look on his face.

Thor watched as Darcy picked up her son. “He will want to know.”

She sighed. If anyone knew her son's father, it would be someone who'd known him over a thousand years. _She_ sure didn't. She held Jarl on her lap with one hand, the other spreading out the book. Bros before hos or whatever? Chances were probably good that Hogun _was_ going to find out, it was just a matter of _who_ told him. “Fine, but Jane will _kill_ me if you take off again because you're going to go give him the bad news.” She thought for a moment, turning the page. “How are you supposed to get your go-and-save-the-other-worlds messages?”

“Heimdall will get me a message.”

“Fair. Hey, Heimdall!” She looked up at the ceiling. Not that he was actually _in_ the ceiling, but... whatever. “Can you get Hogun a message that he might, uh... His presence has been requested on Midgard? Just him, though, not the uh... Just him.”

Her pulse was _racing_. She looked back at Thor. “So, yay. You're back. Uh... Less yay for me, but I'm super happy for Jane.” It was hard not to be a little bitter that he was pushing this on her, but she tried.

She felt chubby little hands patting her cheek, and she looked down to see Jarl looking at her very seriously. “I'm okay, baby. So, uh... You get to meet your daddy! That's exciting, right?”

He was giving her that look, that I'm-way-wiser-than-one-year-old-and-I-see-right-through-your-bullshit look. She looked back, then sighed. “Well, maybe he'll know how to stop getting you from picking up the couch.”

He grinned at that, wide and toothy, and Darcy had to smile. He didn't speak a whole lot, but he seemed to understand every word that came out of her mouth.

Thor was smiling too when he stood again. “It will be alright, Darcy,” he said, full of confidence, before leaving the room.

“Okay, baby, I'll read to you for a bit.” She turned the book back to the beginning and began to read.

When Darcy went back out to the kitchen a little later, Jane was sitting _on_ Thor and finishing her breakfast, and Erik and Ian were gone. There was no doubt that they'd heard every word, the walls were super thin- Darcy was _not_ looking forward to Jane's inevitable reunion sex- but at least with the walls they could pretend they hadn't.

“So Thor says we'll be expecting company?” Jane looked up from her bowl.

“Yup. Hey, you think it's too late for me to grab Jarl and take off home?”

“Darcy.” Jane drew out the word into a multi-syllable warning. “Since when are you this avoidy?”

“Since...” She didn't really get a chance to answer, though, before a dark-haired warrior materialized on the balcony, weapon in his hand as he scanned around for danger.

* * *

 

Thor got up to greet his friend, hopefully to assure him that there wasn't any trouble. Darcy stayed where she was, staring out at the balcony. Hogun looked the same as she remembered, still all intense and broody. He was small compared to Thor- then again, who wasn't- but he still had quite a bit of presence.

She stopped staring when she realized both Thor and Hogun were looking at her. Thor was saying something, and then Hogun nodded.

“It'll be okay,” Jane said quietly from where she'd sat back down in the chair when her Asgardian seat cushion had gotten up.

“Yeah. Or, you know, whatever.” Darcy was looking around for Jarl, but he was apparently still in their room.

Thor opened the balcony door and stepped inside. Hogun had put his mace away and followed the other man in. He hadn't taken his eyes off of Darcy, and she felt a bit like a bug under a microscope. She remembered that intense look very, _very_ well. “Hi,” she greeted lamely. _Hi?_ She didn't know if it was the fact that he'd fathered the little boy in the next room and her body was all for family reunions or that her poor hormones were desperate and neglected, but she very clearly remembered the attraction she'd had to him two years ago. _Viscerally_.

“Lady Darcy.” Was _not_ what he'd called her when he bent her over that table at the back of the diner and-

- _not helping_.

Right. “So... Uh... I have something to show you.” She turned and went back towards her bedroom, not even bothering to check if he was following her.

Jarl was sitting on the floor with his hammer. He smiled when Darcy came in the room, but his dark eyes moved past her to fix on...

His father.

“So, his name is Jarl. Um, Jarl Erik Lewis. He's, uh... Yours. Ours, I mean. Apparently Vanir sperm does _not_ fuck around.” And turned one's uterus into an impenetrable fortress of doom, although this seemed like a bad time to tell him that she'd actively tried _not_ to have their child.

She turned to look back at the man behind her, and found him staring at their son the same way the baby was staring at him- curiosity, mostly.

“He looks well,” came the quiet observation.

“He's a good boy. Quiet. Smart, like scary-smart. Strong as hell, he does this thing where he picks up, like... the couch?”

Hogun was smiling, like actually happy-smiling. Pride, too. He squatted down and held out his arms, and Jarl pushed himself to his feet and toddled right on over. “Why did you not tell me sooner?”

Darcy's eyebrows crawled up her forehead. “Um, because you're, like, an alien? And you probably have a life and responsibilities and things that have nothing to do with me. It's not like you just popped down to Earth and were all, 'I'm gonna knock up a human!' We had heat-of-the-moment, end-of-the-world sex.”

He straightened, Jarl in his arms and playing with a piece of long black hair. “This is my son,” he replied, as though those four words explained everything in the universe.

“Right.” Darcy sat down on the edge of the bed, staring up at them. Jarl really did look a lot like his father. Same dark eyes, dark black hair, same wide nose.

“These are dangerous times for Midgard. I must protect my family.”

Darcy rolled her eyes. “Yeah. Okay, first of all, he's fine. Second of all, um, did Thor tell you I tazed him the first time we met? I'm not exactly a damsel, and I get all mama-bear. Third, seriously. _This_ is why I didn't tell you. Now you're all, 'Fuck this life I had, now I'm honorable and have obligations,' and fuck that noise. You know, Jane told me that you weren't there on her horrible trip to Asgard because you were helping your people rebuild after something fucked up happened. I bet they're not even done.”

He didn't confirm or deny, but the way his shoulders tightened a little was answer enough.

“Right? Exactly like that. And, uh... We're not leaving.” That was a bit of a bold-faced bluff. If Hogun really wanted to, he could Bifrost the fuck out of there with Jarl in his arms, and there wasn't anything Darcy could do about it. But he didn't _seem_ like that kind of asshole. Hopefully. _This is what you get for screwing strange aliens_. “I like Earth. I've got friends, I've got a support network, we're doing good.” As long as Jarl stopped picking up furniture as a hobby by the time he got to kindergarten.

“Then I will stay as well.”

Darcy folded her arms. “No.”

Hogun just stared down at her with those intense dark eyes until she wanted to squirm around all uncomfortably. She threw her hands up in the air and sighed. “Fine. As long as Jane says it's okay, 'cause it's her name on the lease.”

Jane was perfectly fine with it, after a concerned look at Darcy. Thor heartily approved, if the way he clapped Hogun on the shoulders like he was trying to knock him over was any indication.

It was hard not to miss the heated looks that Thor and Jane kept giving each other, so Darcy packed up Jarl's out-for-the-day stuff and asked Hogun if he'd like to go for a walk with them. Maybe he'd be so freaked out by London that he'd realize he was much better off at home. On his own planet.

He seemed to take it all in stride, though. Darcy made him leave his mace behind, which he wasn't exactly comfortable with, but he did it.

They were walking through the park closest to the flat. Jarl hated being in his stroller until he was absolutely too tired to walk, so they were reduced to toddler-speed. Toddler-speed slowed down even more because he kept bending over to examine things on the ground. Curious was definitely a word Darcy would describe her son with.

“Why are you so opposed to my being here?” Hogun asked as Jarl stopped to look at a rock. The baby was still in the let's-put-weird-things-in-my-mouth stage, so Darcy had an excuse not to look at Hogun.

“We don't need you. No offense, I mean... I'm sure you're a super guy, you dropped everything to help out Thor because you love him or whatever, but we don't _need_ you. We've been doing this for over a year now, we're doing just fine.”

“A boy needs his father.”

“A boy needs a father figure, which he totally has. Couple of them, in fact, when Fury's not up to his elbows in SHIELD bullshit.” Which was almost never, if Darcy was going to go ahead and be totally honest, but Hogun didn't need to know that. And Erik had _just_ come back into their lives again super recently, but he didn't need to know that, either. She shook her head. “You know what I've been doing for the past two years?”

“Tell me.”

She glanced up at him, then back down as Jarl decided he was done with the rock and started walking again, hand reaching for Darcy. “Keeping Jane from going crazy.” She took the chubby little hand in hers and let him lead her forward. “She actually had a date the other day, and then Thor shows up again, all blond and gorgeous, and they're probably back at the flat shagging like bunnies. I _like_ Thor, but I'm not losing that much of my life for some alien-god-guy, who may or may not stick around. Jarl needs stability. So far, you guys... not looking too stable.”

He was easily keeping pace on Jarl's other side. “It is unjust to judge me without giving me a chance to prove myself. Had I known you carried my child, I would have been here much sooner.”

She shrugged. “Yeah, maybe. And maybe if it was just me, I wouldn't give a shit. Sex was hot, Hogun, not gonna lie. But it's not just me, and I have to think with more than just my vagina.”

Jarl took that moment to start running. Darcy shifted the backpack she used as a diaper bag onto her shoulders, but Hogun held out his hand. “Allow me.” He took off after the little boy without giving her a chance to reply, catching up easily and staying beside him.

Darcy sighed. She stood there, watching as Jarl pulled to a stop next to whatever was on the ground that had caught his eye. It was ridiculous, but she _trusted_ Hogun. Maybe it was because he hadn't already called Heimdall and disappeared with their son, or maybe it was because of the way he _looked_ at their son, despite having just met him a couple of hours ago, but she wasn't automatically booking it on after them.

After a moment, Hogun swung the little boy up and onto his shoulders. Jarl grabbed onto Hogun's hair, his high, clear laugh carrying over and making Darcy smile despite herself. Holding his son securely to his shoulders by the ankles, Hogun walked back over, a smile on his face.

They looked... Darcy's heart fucking broke. They looked _right_. “Fuck,” she muttered under her breath.

* * *

 

That night, Jane and Thor went to bed pretty much right after dinner. Which was totally fair. After putting Jarl to bed in his crib, Darcy went back out to the living room to wait until he fell asleep. Usually this was the part of the evening where she hung out with Jane and got caught up on whatever work Jane needed help with, but this evening there was nothing to do.

And Hogun was there. He was sitting on the couch engrossed in... a book? She had her glasses off and couldn't see exactly what he was looking at from over by her door. “What are you reading?” she asked as she settled down beside him.

He lifted the book off his lap and tipped it towards her so she could see that it was Jarl's picture book of Norse mythology. “It is a record of our time spent on Midgard those many years ago.”

“Something like that. It's been edited for kids. You guys weren't quite as rape-y as the Greek gods were, but still a lot of violence.” She shrugged. “I want Jarl to know where he comes from. I've seen what happens when you guys have weird identity crises mixed with daddy issues. No thank you.”

He closed the book and set it on the couch on his other side. “My people have their own history in addition to what took place here.”

Darcy made a face, her attention on a piece of cereal that had stuck itself to her knee. “Pretty sure I'm not going to find _D'Aulaire's Book of Vanir History_ in my local library, but I'll check.” She shook her head. “Why are you here, Hogun?” She turned to face him on the couch, tucking one knee under herself and looking up to meet his eyes.

Those intense brown eyes. “My family is here.”

“But your _people_ aren't. Your 'family' is a year old, and was doing just fine before you showed up. I heard your planet got blown the fuck up, so... maybe they need you a little more than he does.”

“You are the mother of my child, Darcy, you are my family as well.” He reached out and brushed the backs of his knuckles over her cheeks.

She jerked back out of his reach. “Oh no. No. You do not just get to fall out of the sky one day and just start claiming shit. 'That's my son. That's my family.' Doesn't happen like that.”

He looked at her in silence until she wanted to start squirming again, his eyes seeming to see straight through her. “What is it that you fear?” he asked quietly.

How did he even narrow in on that so quickly? She sighed. “Honestly? That we'll get attached, and you'll fucking ditch us. Jarl will be all, 'I have a daddy!' and I'll be all, 'father of my kid, totally hot, fantastic sex, maybe even feels,' and then you'll ditch us because _you have other obligations_. Thor said he'd be back. Two. Fucking. Years. Ago.

“You're, what, a thousand? Give or take a few hundred years? I'm mortal, and Jarl seems to be maturing at a human rate. So, two years from now, Jarl will be three. He's not really going to start retaining memories until then, so right now I'm just kinda- whatever.” She shrugged and rolled her eyes. “But two years after that, he'll be five. He'll be starting school, he'll be remembering shit, and I'll have to be the one to tell him that no, I don't know where Daddy is. No, I don't know when he's coming back.” She got up, unable to sit still in her agitation, and started pacing behind the couch. “Two years might be the blink of an eye for you, but it's a long-ass time here. It was bad enough with a thirty-something woman, I can't even imagine with a little boy who will undoubtedly think the sun shines out of your ass.” She was keeping her voice down, more for Jarl's benefit than that of the other adults in the house, and the last part was an angry hiss.

He stood as well, moving around the couch and resting his hands gently on her upper arms. “Darcy.” He waited until she was looking up into his face. “I'll not leave unless you are with me.”

“Uh-uh.” She pulled away from him and resumed pacing, just around him instead of across the area he was occupying. “That's even worse. Now I'm all, 'Well, Hogun _could_ being helping his people recover from their war and whatever, but he's stuck here 'cause I won't leave.' Yeah, that's fair. Your honor-slash-obligations can go fuck itself.”

He watched her move past him for a second or two. “You present this as a riddle with no answer.”

“Yeah, exactly. Why the fuck do you think I didn't get in touch with you until Thor was all, 'Well, if you don't, I will!'” She stopped walking and faced him. “You can go now, Hogun. Jarl might ask about you tomorrow, chances are pretty good that I can distract him with ice cream. He loves his ice cream. Kids don't start retaining memories until they're three or four so, you know... No harm, no foul.” It actually hurt to say those words. It hurt to talk to him like that while she remembered the look on their son's face when Hogun and swung him up onto his shoulders. It _hurt_.

“You speak as though your heart is split in two.”

She sighed, slumping against the back of the couch. “Yeah. Because I saw the way he was looking at you. Boy's smart. He knows you're...” She shook her head, folding her arms tightly across her chest. “You should leave,” she told him, staring down at the bright yellow socks on her feet. “Now, before the attachment thing.”

She saw his feet approach and stop in front of her own. Hands gently gripped her arms, and then she was folded into his embrace, pulled away from the couch to be held tightly against his chest. She turned her head to rest her cheek against him, eyes falling shut.

“There is always an answer. I will leave,” he told her quietly. “I must. But I will return.”

Her arms came out, pushing him away. The smile on her face was strained as she looked at him, shaking her head. “If the time it takes can be measured in years, don't bother.” She turned and went into her own room, sitting on her bed in the dark and listening to the soft sounds of Jarl breathing.

* * *

 

She got hardly any sleep that night. It felt like she was just drifting off when she heard the sweet little voice saying, “Mama? Mama up now,” from the other side of the room.

With a groan, she pulled herself out of bed, grabbing her glasses and jamming them on her face. “Mama's up, baby.”

Jarl was sitting up in his crib, stuffed Mjolnir clutched in one hand, hair all adorably tousled from sleep. He gripped the bars and pulled himself upright, free arm already reaching for Darcy.

She leaned over and picked him up, lifting him out of his bed and settling him on her hip. “Oof, you're getting heavy!”

He snuggled against her, head on her shoulder. “Daddy.”

Her heart sank. She pressed a kiss to his dark hair. “I don't know, baby. Do you want banana for breakfast?” It was a little too early to distract him with talk of ice cream, but she was ready if he wouldn't drop it.

Thankfully, though, he just nodded, shifting his head against her shoulder.

She went out of her room and into the kitchen area. The house was dark and quiet. After getting him settled in his high chair with cut banana, dry cereal, and a sippy cup of milk, Darcy started a pot of coffee and hustled into the bathroom. A shower would probably need to wait until Jarl went down for a nap, but she used the toilet and wrestled with her brown curls enough to get them pulled into a ponytail.

She stepped out of the bathroom, intent on checking on Jarl and then going and changing out of the tank top and jammie pants she slept in, but what she saw stopped her cold.

There was a dark-haired man at her table, watching Jarl eat. He looked up at her, a smile on his face. “I am but one man. My people will rebuild without me, I simply needed to explain my absence.”

Without a word, she turned and went into her room. After closing the door, she stood there and stared at it like she would be able to see through it. Would he still be there when she opened it back up? This was...

It was too early to deal with this. Shaking her head, Darcy pulled some clothes from the 'clean' laundry basket and got dressed. She took a deep breath before opening the door.

Hogun was still there, sitting at the table. He'd gotten himself a cup of coffee and was drinking it as he watched his son maneuver bits of food into his mouth. He smiled again when Darcy came back out.

Leaving the door open behind her, she went into the kitchen and got herself her own mug of coffee. A little bit of milk, a whole lot of sugar, and she sat down at the table to drink it.

“Daddy,” Jarl said.

“Mmhmm,” she agreed, swallowing a mouthful of the hot beverage. When she felt she'd been sufficiently caffeinated to deal, she looked across the table at the Vanir. “You came back.”

“Yes. My family is here.”

Darcy never cried. Hardly ever. She was tough, she wrangled stubborn scientists and saved the world. Until she had a baby, that is. She wouldn't admit to it, but the tears came easier after having Jarl, for some strange reason. And they were gathering _now_ , the hot sting of emotion brimming at her eyes.

She stood up, pushing the chair back, and went to stand in front of the cupboard, hands resting loosely on the counter top. She could have been looking for the cereal to get her own breakfast. That was totally a reasonable excuse.

She heard the scrape of metal legs from the other chair across the cheap linoleum, and then a hand on each arm gently turning her around. She met a solid chest and closed her eyes as arms came around her, holding her close.

Hogun fit into their lives seemingly even easier than Thor did. Thor had a lot of checking-in-with-the-Avengers to do, as well as taking off to go save various countries or planets. Jane bore up happily, secure in the knowledge that Thor would always return _soon_ instead of in a couple of years.

Hogun was always there, though, the steady, quiet presence at the table. He slept on the couch in the living room for the first couple of nights, then Darcy got a spare mattress and put it on the floor of her room, and he slept in there. He got up with Jarl more often than Darcy did, and assumed a lot of his day-to-day care, which was _awesome_. It meant not having to drop the baby off at the babysitter's every day.

Jarl enjoyed having his father around. He was happiest when he was snuggled between his parents, looking at a book or watching TV, or listening to what Hogun called 'oral history.' Jarl loved listening to his father's stories, and Darcy did too.

And Darcy... It was surprisingly easy to get used to his presence, and not just because she got an extra few minutes of sleep every morning. It was reassuring to wake up in the night and see his shadowed shape on the mattress on the floor. It was nice to have someone to bitch to when she and Jane occasionally butted heads. As time passed and he didn't just abandon them, he became a friend. They may not have _needed_ him, but it was really _nice_ that he was there.

Having him so close, though, was difficult in one particular way. Darcy knew _exactly_ what was under his armor- less armor now and more polo shirts and jeans- and his was the name she mouthed as her fingers slipped over her desperate clit in the shower.

* * *

 

“Um, okay... Thanks, Nick.” Darcy thumbed off her phone and sank into her chair in a bit of a daze. She was at the work table, the too-crowded piece of furniture with snippets and files of Jane's data spread across it. “So... We need to get the fuck out.” She looked up and met Jane's eyes. “Like, now.”

Jane stared back, eyebrows drawing down. “What do you mean?”

“Yeah, so apparently some secret Nazi group has infiltrated SHIELD, and shit's about to go down. And since _we've_ consulted with SHIELD about important sciency things with other planets, they might come and kill us.” Her eyes flicked to Thor. “You too, 'cause you're all Avengery.”

Thor looked up from where he was standing at the end of the table, bending over a piece of paper. “They can try.”

“Well, apparently they're really good at it. Like, they'll just bomb out a fucking building just to, you know. Kill us. And, hey. You'd be fine. Hogun and Jarl probably too. But we're...” Darcy gestured between herself and Jane. “Squishy. So. We need to go. Like, far. Just as far away as fucking possible.”

Darcy's mind was spinning. They couldn't go back to New Mexico or Norway, they couldn't stay where they were. They'd have to go off-grid, and she just wasn't up on her quickly accessible off-grid locations handy to London. “Fuck.” She rested her elbow on the table and leaned her head into her hand. “This is bullshit, you know. Complete bullshit.” That wasn't even mentioning the little detail that Jarl was in SHIELD's gigantic database as half-alien and HYDRA probably wanted to do fun things like dissect him.

Darcy had taken the morning-after pill. Apparently it failed. On confirmation of pregnancy, she'd scheduled an abortion. That had... Well, it hadn't worked. SHIELD was already keeping an eye on her, and this really caught their attention. So Nick Fury had brought his happy ass out to the middle of the desert to offer Darcy a safe, scientifically relevant place to give birth to a half-alien instead of trying more invasive procedures that might injure her, given the fetus' apparent determination to stay put. After careful deliberation, she'd accepted on the condition that he would also provide a deceased father to put on the birth certificate so that she'd be free to live her life where and how she wished, and it had all come together. Jarl was added to the database as some sort of alien, there were random check-ins with SHIELD to see how he was growing and developing, and everything was fine.

Except everything wasn't fucking fine. Nothing was fine. HYDRA apparently had no problem with vivisecting babies, and Darcy felt like she was ready to flip some fucking tables over this shit.

“It's not a problem.” Thor was as cool as a damn cucumber. “They can't come to Asgard. Even if they did figure out a passage, they would be stopped before they got anywhere.”

That was... actually a really good point. Darcy stood up and practically ran into her room, where Hogun was sitting on the floor with Jarl. “Um. So, we need to go to Vanaheim.” She looked between him and their son. “Right now.”

To his credit, he didn't jump up and down and start doing a touchdown dance. He'd mentioned the possibility once in passing as a, “You would always be welcome in my realm,” and then had never, ever brought it up again. She knew he missed it, though. “What is the haste?”

“So, SHIELD? You've heard about SHIELD, right?” He nodded. “Well, they're not what we thought they were, and they want to kill me and Jane and dissect Jarl. I am not okay with any of that, and it's been recommended that we just get the fuck out.” She smiled, a strained smile that she didn't really feel. “I hear Vanaheim's lovely, and also humans can't really get there on their own.”

Hogun set Jarl gently on his feet, then stood as well. “We can leave as soon as you're ready.”

“Great, that's... That's great. Uh, clothes? Toothbrush? Laptop? What am I looking to bring?” Her eyes were flicking frantically around the room, instantly evaluating everything she looked at for feasibility of bringing with them.

Hogun stepped forward until he was close enough to pull Darcy against him. She always felt soothed in his arms, at least a little, and it was a relief to feel it now. “We have clothing, toys for children. Your electronics won't interface properly with anything we have. If you wish to return to Midgard when the danger has passed, bring that which you would like have on your return.”

“Right. Okay. I can do that.” She took in a deep breath, trying to calm herself down and focus. “Can you get Jarl's stuff together?” Hogun knew what Jarl would need, and that would let her concentrate on getting her own stuff together.

“Of course.”

It wasn't long before they were packed up enough to make do. A few of Jarl's favorite toys, a couple of changes of clothes. Hogun pulled his mace and armor out from where he'd been storing them in the closet and got both himself and Jarl ready for the trip while Darcy went out to talk to Jane.

Jane was in full emergency-packing mode. “Are you going to Asgard?” Darcy asked, keeping herself out of the way of her friend's best windmill impression.

“No. Tony Stark has offered us a safe haven,” Thor answered. He seemed okay with it. He'd really taken to the whole home-is-where-Jane-is thing.

“Okay.” Darcy nodded for a second. Somehow _that_ seemed weirder than her going to _another fucking planet_. “Got it. Uh, if I leave my laptop and phone here, can you keep them for me until we get back?” That would be way easier than trying to keep track of them on another fucking planet.

“Of course,” Jane answered. “Where are you going?”

“Vanaheim.”

Jane looked up from the box she was shoving manilla folders into. “Vanaheim? That makes sense. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.” She nodded absently. “Are you... coming back?”

“As far as I know, yes.” Just as soon as no one wanted to vivisect her baby anymore.

“Yeah. I will absolutely hang onto your stuff for you.” With a folder still in one hand, Jane came around the table and pulled Darcy into a big hug. “I'll miss you. Give Jarl a kiss for me, okay?”

Darcy nodded. “We'll miss you too.” When she stepped away from Jane, Thor pulled her into a big hug, and then she was walking back into the kitchen where Hogun and Jarl were waiting for her. Picking up her son, she followed Hogun out to the balcony.

“We must stop at Asgard first,” Hogun told her, sliding an arm around her waist and holding her against him.

Bifrosting was _weird_. Totally weird. It was like she was swimming and being sucked through a tube at the same time and just... Weird.

There was a large man, all shiny and gold, waiting for them in what Darcy assumed was Asgard. It was a large domey room, lots of big sparkly things. And the large man had a massive sword that Darcy was pretty sure was bigger than she was. “Heimdall?” she asked, taking him in. Because who else could competently keep an eye on _everything_ other than this badass?

“Darcy Lewis,” he returned. His voice was like rocks sliding together.

“Yay! Good to finally meet you. Thanks for being a bro, though.” She hefted the toddler on her hip. “This is Jarl. I mean, you know that, but introductions.”

He gave the little boy a grave look and nodded. “It is important to keep him safe from the evils of your realm. I believe you will enjoy Vanaheim.”

She kinda wanted to go in for the hug, but it looked dangerous, like his armor would actually hurt her. “Thanks, Heimdall.”

Bifrosting wasn't any less weird the second time.

Vanaheim was _gorgeous_. All fucking green with trees and lots of fresh air. It was some sort of... village? There were people moving around and doing stuff, with lots of smiles and greetings for Hogun. “Wow,” was what came out.

Jarl was squirming, so she set him on the ground and took his hand. “This is Vanaheim?”

Hogun smiled, though whether it was because of her admiration or because he was happy to be back, she didn't know. Both, maybe? Probably both. “Yes.”

“I should have asked this before, but do you... Have a house?”

* * *

 

He did have a house. And it was freakishly easy to settle into his house. It didn't feel strange or weird, it felt like _home_ . Although _that_ seemed a little weird.

Jarl had his own room, across the hall from the master bedroom. It wasn't until that night after a very busy village feast and getting Jarl settled into his bed that Darcy eased the door to their son's room closed before turning to Hogun and asking, “Where am I sleeping?” She kept her voice down to barely above a whisper. There were only the two bedrooms.

He turned towards her, reaching out to brush the backs of his knuckles over her cheek. “I have but one bed, Darcy. If you wish, I will sleep out there.” He pointed past her, out to where the living room opened up at the other end of the hall.

“Okay. But what if I don't wish? 'Cause... I don't want you to?”

The intensity of his eyes made her shiver, and not in that I-don't-want-to-be-here way. “Do you simply wish a companion to sleep beside, or would you take me between your legs?”

“Both?” That was a little squeakier than she wanted it to be. She cleared her throat and tried again. “Definitely both.”

His hand closed around her upper arm and he pulled her gently to him. There was none of the remembered urgency from that one time in the diner, but the intensity was greater. He was searching her eyes as though he was trying to find the answers to life itself in them, and then he very slowly brought his lips down to hers.

He kissed with a practiced certainty, first softly parting her lips under his, and then licking leisurely into her mouth. His other hand came to rest on her hip, fingers curling around to brush against her ass.

She gripped the front of the tunic he'd changed into shortly after they arrived with both hands, tilting her head back a little bit for him. They were moving, she realized, he was guiding her slowly backwards with the pressure of his hand on her hip, and she felt the edge of the bed bump the backs of her thighs.

There was no further movement, though, no frantic shedding of clothes, just the unhurried dance of his lips against hers. The hand on her arm moved around her back until she was pressed into him, her breasts slightly squashed against the hardness of his chest.

She knew what was underneath his tunic and she wanted to _see_ it. He and Thor had a habit of taking themselves up to the roof and beating the shit out of each other to stay in shape, and Hogun was built like he was meant to kick ass and chew bubblegum. He was lean, sure, but he was hard like fucking steel.

When her fingers drifted down his chest to wriggle under his shirt, he pulled back enough to look down at her. “There is no need for haste.”

She swallowed at the look of promise in his eyes. “What if Jarl wakes up?”

“Then I will tend him, and return to tend you.”

Darcy's fingers caught on the hem of his tunic. “Which sounds awesome, and I promise I'm not trying to hurry you along, but I've been dying to see this all up close and personal for entirely too long now.”

He stepped back enough to let her pull the tunic up and over his chest, revealing the sharp lines of lean muscles marked here and there by the occasional puckered scar. She tossed his shirt towards the wall, neither of them really caring where it landed. “This. All of this.” She was staring, her fingers running over his skin like she was trying to memorize him for a 3D sculpture later.

Hogun seemed content to stand there and let her touch him at her leisure, his eyes boring into the top of her head. When she brushed over a taut nipple, though, there might have been the faintest trace of a twitch, and she looked up to meet his eyes, grinning. “Please feel free to never wear a shirt again.”

“I prefer to sleep unclothed.”

“Best news I've had all day.” She leaned forward to flick her tongue over the nipple she'd just touched, and he twitched towards her. She started exploring the planes of his torso with her mouth the same way she had with her fingers, reveling in the slightly salty taste of his skin. She started at the top and slowly worked her way down, ending with dragging her tongue along the stretch of skin just above the waist of his pants. “Not too hasty for you, I hope,” she teased as she straightened up.

He didn't answer, instead he neatly picked her up and deposited her on her back on the bed. Instantly he was beside her, leaning over her for another kiss.

This time his hand roamed over her side, the callouses earned from hard combat catching and rasping over her shirt. It was hard not to imagine that same roughness against her skin, and Darcy shuddered under him.

When his fingers slipped under her shirt, she almost moaned in anticipation. The slight scratch of his roughened skin against hers felt absolutely _fantastic_ as he brushed over the curve of her stomach and up along her ribs. Having Jarl had made her a little softer than she had been, but Hogun didn't seem to mind at all as he mapped out her abdomen similarly to how she'd touched him.

She squirmed and writhed underneath his maddeningly-light touch, slipping her lips from his so that she could draw in a full breath of air. The barely-there brush of his fingers seemed to be hyper-sensitizing her skin. By the time his fingers traced along the seam where her bra cup met her skin, she was practically vibrating.

But he wasn't done. He eased back to help her sit up, deftly pulling off her shirt and undoing her bra before discarding them on the floor. Then he pressed her back to the bed and began his exploration all over again, starting with her neck and working his way down across her clavicle and over her chest.

When he gently rolled one sensitive nipple between his finger and thumb, she practically came up off the bed. “This is torture,” she moaned, cracking her eyes open to see him smile. “Seriously, I would tell you anything you wanted to hear.”

“Then I must render you beyond speech.” There was a promise in his voice that made her eyes drift shut again, and she felt his mouth close over the other nipple. His long hair fell down as a silken curtain against her skin as he sucked and nipped and rolled and pinched until she really was beyond speech. Her back was arched as much as she could, straining into him.

The loss of his nimble fingers and devious tongue was acute, and she actually whimpered as she felt him ease back.

“Easy,” he soothed, his hands moving down over her abdomen to the waist of her skinny jeans. In no time at all he had them undone and was pulling them down, along with her panties, pressing open-mouthed kisses along the inside of her legs as he did so. When he got to her ankles, he quickly got rid of everything she was still wearing, then stood to take off his own pants.

Darcy was running her own hands over her skin, catching a nipple between her fingers, the other hand skating over her belly and upper thighs. She watched Hogun as he settled himself on the bed again, this time between her legs, lowering himself slowly towards her.

She caught his cock as he came towards her, pumping it once from tip to base before guiding him to her slick entrance.

His eyes, pupils blown wide and burning with intensity, held hers as he surged slowly forward, filling her. It took a moment before he was fully seated within her, and he just held himself there.

She locked her legs around him, heels digging into the taut muscles of his ass. “Move,” she whispered, and he rolled his hips in response. She let out a long sigh as he did it again, each leisurely movement making her nerve endings sing.

He caught her hand and pulled it down over her body until it was resting over her mound, just above where their bodies were joined. She took the hint, circling her middle finger over her eager clit in time with each leisurely stroke of his erection deep inside her body.

It was a slow, hot burn, the way her pleasure grew measured in gasps and sighs. She couldn't take her eyes away from his, there was something intensely intimate about holding his gaze as their bodies slowly came together. When at last she felt her pleasure begin to crest, the slight smile on his face pushed her over the edge.

Darcy came with a long moan, teeth caught around her lower lip in an effort to keep from making too much noise. He kept the same steady rhythm as she clenched around him, pushing through it until she opened her eyes to meet his gaze again. The slight smile had grown a little, and she leaned up to kiss him, catching his lower lip between both of hers and drawing it into her mouth.

His hand closed over the back of her thigh and he pushed her ankle onto his shoulder. Suddenly the angle was deeper, _more_ , and Darcy rocked into him faster, urging him to pick up speed.

He did, his hips snapping into hers quickly enough to make an audible noise. It was an unending drive of sensation, leaving her gripping at his shoulder with one hand, the other now almost frantically rubbing against her clit. His hair brushed over her breasts in delicate strokes that raised goosebumps along her skin.

Her next orgasm was punctuated by a gasp, fingernails digging into the tight line of Hogun's shoulder. Her hand fell away from her clit as she arched into him, her heel on his ass urging him still deeper.

He rode out her orgasm, but his own movements were beginning to grow uneven and jerky. When she flicked just the edge of her fingernail over his tight nipple, his body stilled as his cock pulsed, spilling his come inside her.

He lowered her foot gently to the bed and rolled away, his arms curling around her to pull her close. Their breath mingled as their bodies calmed, legs tangled together on the bed.

“I'm on the pill,” Darcy said after a while. “Although after this month is over, I'm out. Contraceptive,” she explained at the slightly bemused expression on his face. “Prevents pregnancy.”

“We have such things here,” he answered, stroking the backs of his knuckles over her cheekbone. “Or we could give Jarl a sister.”

“Yeah, I don't know about that.” Still, though, she was smiling as she cuddled her head closer onto his shoulder.

**Author's Note:**

> Rare-pairs are my jam. Delicious, delicious jam.  
> First part written to "Without You" by David Guetta. Smut written to "Flowers Become Screens" by Delerium.


End file.
